Spoiler Policy

[deelaundry]

I've seen several comments lately on my f-list of people saying they'll create filters to keep out LJers who emotionally spoil them for an episode after the episode has aired. So here is my spoiler policy. Feel free to filter or de-friend me if you don't agree.

Pt. 1: Specific spoilers that come out before the episode airs will be behind an lj-cut. I reserve the right to post my general emotional state about upcoming episodes as a whole (hint: almost always "excited") outside cuts. Broad spoilers that are plastered across all media, e.g., last summer that there would be a "Survivor" arc, may appear outside cuts or in comments.

Pt. 2: Ep reviews/notes made immediately after the show airs will be behind an lj-cut. These may contain discussion of the preview for the next week, and comments to these posts may at any time have speculation for upcoming episodes.

Pt. 3: In other posts, I will try to protect a buffer of three days before posting episode-related anything outside a cut. For a Tuesday night episode, that means that after 9 pm US-Eastern Time on Friday, you may see spoilers outside the cut.

Pt. 4: For fics, I will try to note spoilers up to a month after the episode has aired.

Pt. 5: My reading policy on LJ: If I can't see the episode during US-Eastern Time and don't want to be spoiled, it's my responsibility to avoid LJ until I can see the episode.

Pt. 6: If you are rude to my friends about spoilers, or any other topic, you're off my f-list.

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Word on #5. You're a braver person than I for posting it.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

That's my policy, so I thought I'd say it. Others on my f-list may have different policies and that's fine. If a friend hasn't seen the episode and personally asks me to hold off, I'll try to accomodate them even longer than stated above.

[poorfrances.livejournal.com]

So what went down?

And word on #5, there's justifiable accommodation but at some point people have to take responsibility for themselves. If you're in a different time zone, or are waiting to watch the show until some other day, then don't expect the internet to stop for your pleasure.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

It's a general thing. Just thought I'd make my intentions clear so people can make their own decisions what they want to do.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

What's an emotional spoiler? Is that just people saying w00t or bawwww in their own journals after an ep airs without remarking on content?

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

Hmm, okay. I guess I can see why people object to it but I do it and it doesn't bother me when other people do it...sometimes I like a heads-up to know if an ep is good or not.

But people who feel it spoils them are right to create filters, that's cool.

I'm with you, though :)

[theninth.livejournal.com]

But one person's *sob* might be another person's *glee*. How's that really spoilery?

[theninth.livejournal.com]

Ahh. Good point!

[hirenkoi.livejournal.com]

Speaking of friends and friends list, I was wondering if you could friend me? *puppy eyes* please?

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Sure, I'll friend you. To let you know, I just wrote a ficlet in the MFS verse that's getting beta-ed now that I think you'll like.

I'm also going to try to work on your custom fic this weekend. I have two different ideas and can't decide which one to do!

[hirenkoi.livejournal.com]

thank you!!

A MFS ficlet???! Yeeeh! I can´t wait! \o/

And, please, take your time to decide which idea you going to use. But when this kind of indecision happens to me, I think and think and think but in the end, I always choose a third path. XD

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

It's called Sunshine State (http://deelaundry.livejournal.com/124583.html). : )

[romeo46.livejournal.com]

These are all good points. Personally all I ask for is a cut until it has aired on the West Coast. After that it is fair game and my responsibility not to read anything that may spoil it. If I click a spoiler cut then I know what I am getting into.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Then we should be compatible, which is awesome. I've been inconsistent in the past, but writing these points out really clarified for me how I want to handle these things. : )

[romeo46.livejournal.com]

I always liked that HouseWilson card game Howse Cartoon

[nuclearfootball.livejournal.com]

Good God I scream like a banshee after episodes I like. I always try to cut spoilers but yeah it usually looks like "[big]x1000 ZOMG WILSON RULEZ THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!! [+CUT FOR SUPER COOL SPOILERS LOLOLOLOLO]"

In fact after "House's Head" this is what my whole post looked like to jakeish:


What can I say, I can't jump around and squee irl so I do it here. vv

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I love your screaming, Jane. Like I said in #5: If I have to miss an ep and don't want spoilers, I won't go on LJ. Other people act/feel differently, so I wrote this up just to clarify what's going to happen on my LJ.

[eryslash.livejournal.com]

I agree on #5. I always eventually give in and check LJ out, but I blame myself, not others.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Some people feel differently, so I thought I'd be clear. : )

[anoel.livejournal.com]

5 is definitely my philosophy. When I haven't seen an episode I don't want to be spoiled for in any way, I just don't read my Flist at all. I've been spoiled for Office and House quotes before and at first I was annoyed but then I could see it was my own fault for reading. So now I don't read and all is fine.

And sometimes I like reading emotional reactions so I know if I should get my hopes up or down.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I want emotional spoilers too. It all depends. : )

[poeia.livejournal.com]

But I think you shouldn't discuss or write fics about anything in any episode until it has aired in every country with a TV station which currently buys House. (In other words, right now, anything past S2 is a spoiler.) And, if it's a cross-over, you should also make sure that SGA has aired in every possible location -- including Atlantis.

Alternatively, waiting until the episode has been aired somewhere works for me.

And I love #6.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

It's such a bitch waiting for the Pegasus Galaxy to get their episodes of SGA. Atlantis isn't too bad, but the damn Wraith government is too cheap to pay for any sooner than two years behind. Bastards.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Uhm. Your spoiler and cut policies sound common sense to me. I'm just a little 0.o that some people sound so--militant about being "emotionally spoiled."

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I feel like there's more sensitivity around it in the past few months, but that could just be my perception.

[xaipw.livejournal.com]

Thank god for #5. I don't know why more people can't adopt that policy.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Everybody has different ideas of what's right, so thought I'd clarify my thoughts.

♥ you.

[xaipw.livejournal.com]

I only figured out what "|" means yesterday. *slow*

[zulu.livejournal.com]

It's a good policy and I thank you for making it clear. It's unfortunate for people who live in other countries and who are behind: I like to give them a week at least, so that they can download the episode if they want. Telling people who live in other countries that they shouldn't look at their flists for however long it takes them to acquire the episodes is, well--I guess people living in other countries just have to live with being spoiled, huh? Makes me glad I'm only a little foreign.

My fics will always have spoiler headers unless they are AUs. I'm pretty sure, although I can't be a hundred percent certain, that all my discussion posts are cut, with any specific spoilers mentioned in the cut-tag. To me, this is basic courtesy; if people choose to click on the cut, then that's their responsibility. My responsibility, as I see it, is to keep spoilers off a public front page, even for people surfing in via friendsfriends, even for people arriving well after the episode airs.

Clearly I'm the militant one here, though, and I'm in the minority. It's often the same way in warning debates. I hate plot points in headers, because I don't want to be spoiled. And I only care about staying spoiler-free for shows I love (and right now, that's only House). Overall, I'm glad I keep my "LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING" to a minimum. It'd stress me out if I tried to do it for everything I watch. It does mean, you're right, that I can't read my flist on Tuesdays (or now Mondays). Not even on my filter, because I'm not willing to filter that many people out. I find that annoying, on one level, but for the most part I do it because that's what makes me happiest, and ultimately that's what I'm responsible for.

Anyway, I have a total feeling of deja vu here: I feel like you've already posted this policy? Several months ago? And I responded the same way? Weird feeling.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

It's unfortunate for people who live in other countries and who are behind. -- Yes, it is, but I don't make the policies on when things are aired. Three days is ample time to download, if they choose to, or otherwise, they can dump me from their f-list. For SGA, the US was months behind Canada last year, and Americans had to suck it up and deal. *shrug*

My fics generally have spoiler headers for the past few eps, but at some point, "Wilson slept with a patient" becomes generally known. I'm going to set a month as that point for my fics.

People viewing a public forum run the risk of seeing things they don't want to see. While I want to be polite, I don't feel it's my responsibility to have to shelter them from everything that's happened. Believe me, I had a ton of angst for quite a while about even mentioning Amber's name outside a cut. Writing out the policy above solidified for me how I feel, and what I think is right, so it's good to get that settled. If others don't agree with me, as I said, they can filter me out or de-friend me.

As to deja vu: I posted a spoiler policy on gate_house. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

[barred-subject.livejournal.com]

Honestly, as someone who's just become one of those unfortunates once more, twenty-four hours or so is perfectly adequate to download and watch an episode, even with a fairly basic connection (dialup or anything similar would probably preclude heavy LJ use).
There are some people who have to wait longer to download episodes because, for example, they're using a university internet connection on which certain kinds of activity are banned – but those people have various options open to them, including finding another way to get episodes (back in the day, I had a helpful friend), getting used to spoilers, and accepting that US-based fan communities are not the place for them.

All this will be easier once television networks start providing shows on demand simultaneously throughout the world at a reasonable cost. I would be fine paying a couple of quid to see House straightaway. When I was in America, I would happily have paid a few dollars to see House straightaway without ads. (Actually, if I'd been there for longer, I would probably have worked on getting over my Must.See.As.Soon.As.Possible complex and waited til the next day to download episodes, because the experience of watching with US-style maximally intrusive advertising is so much less enjoyable. The panda was just the tip of the iceberg, as far as I was concerned.)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes. I find your policy highly sensible *g*.

Honestly, I think anyone should be allowed to post whatever they like in their own lj - I don't know of anyone who is really blatantly inconsiderate about spoilers anyway, and if I did, I'd filter them. If I find that I really can't bear to see the slightest hints of emotional reactions or quotes (and some weeks I do feel like that), I stay off lj *shrug*

[hwshipper.livejournal.com]

As one of the poor sods abroad struggling with goddawful downloads for some time after an ep airs (OH to be able to access a decent download without a US credit card!) - I take full responsibility for my own pathetic lack of self-restraint in logging onto LJ before I've seen it.

But then I'm sometimes spoilered anyway ;)

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

Do you have broadband? If you do, email me - I can give you a couple of links.

I do the same as most other people - if I don't want to see any spoilers at all, I just avoid LJ until I've seen the episode in question.